You cannot learn a language without learning about the culture. And IMO the more you learn about other cultures the wider your mind will be and the better you will be at judging your own culture and what it takes for granted.

I agree, whole-heartedly, however, does this mean the US takes its lack of one specific culture for granted... possibly taking diversity for granted... or is *it just continually confused?

I'll let a US'n answer for themselves. I think many Canadians esp. in smaller towns see Canada as having a culture with multiculturalism as the extras. Your basic steak and potatoes with a choice of buerre blanc, hoisin worcestershire or salsa. Those in areas with a larger immigrant population take for granted that the whole multicultural smorgesbord is part of our culture.

I'm quite convinced that English is the most adaquate choice for being a global language.I've read the newspaper daily while staying in your country and when I compare "obit" to our word "overlijdensberichten " when it's about obituaries it's pretty obvious who wins.

That's what made me wonder about an expression I read a lot:"state-of-the-art" ... such and so.This seems to me leading to the opposite direction. Loosing adaquateness. Why not simply "the actual best". All those hyphens make for longer time writing.I think it a pretty pretentious and needlessly long expression.

In my opinion, language is a tool which carries forward the cultural values across generations. If Language is given less importance, ultimately the cultural values diminish over time.

I basically hail from South India, and my mother tongue is Tamil. I went abroad to pursue my university education. It was sad to note that many friends of mine who where originally speakers of Tamil, couldn't converse well in Tamil just because their parents insisted from the early age to use English at all levels(even at home). Also they patronized the West more, by means of watching American Sitcoms, shows, movies etc. I could see them losing their cultural identity over time.

In that post five boxes up I should have said "lingua franca" in stead of "global language". I agree with you that it is very important to keep native languages alive. If only for the richness and fun of it. But English definitely was the easiest language to learn as a second language. (don't know how it is for Tamil speaking people)

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